The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see
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The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see resource for landlubbers and mariners alike.

Carol Gafford is a public librarian, family historian, amateur archivist and book savior. She is currently the youth services/outreach librarian at the Swansea Public Library and volunteers for several museum and historical societies including the Marine Museum at Fall River, the Swansea Historical Society and the Bristol Historical and Preservation society. She is the editor of Past Times, the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists and is always looking for a new project to take on.

WALTHAM – It was all about pick-and-roll defense during Tuesday’s Celtics practice.

It was once again about pick-and-roll offense for Rajon Rondo and Jared Sullinger long after the team workout was over.

In what has become a ritual for the pair, Rondo called Sullinger over after the 90-minute practice to run about 15 minutes of pick-and-roll, and pick-and-pop, sets. The goal of the drill is to get Rondo better used to shooting off of Sullinger’s picks, and to get Sullinger more used to being in the right place to set the right screens at the right times, while also getting him more comfortable with firing the mid-range jumper on the pick-and-pop.

"That’s been our routine for the past month and a half now," Sullinger said. "It’s just getting our shots up in game-like situations."

Like most everything else in a game that’s wise beyond where it would be for most 20-year-olds, Sullinger has picked it up quickly. But Rondo has also been quick to give the rookie a sigh of disappointment and a stare of admonishment in games when he’s been late on screens and the play has broken down.

"You’ve just got to understand that Rondo wants certain things," Sullinger said. "You’ve got to know his tendencies as a basketball player. Sometimes they’re unexpected tendencies. But at the same time, you’ve got to expect the unexpected with Rondo. You just have to keep playing, and always have your hands ready.

"I think (the pick-and-roll drills are) more helpful for our shots. Obviously, Rondo’s been hitting the mid-range shot, and hitting the 3-pointer, a lot better this year. This is our routine, and he feels comfortable with it. As long as we do our thing together every day, I think we’re going to be a good shooting basketball team."

For most of the actual practice, it was defending the pick-and-roll that was the focus. The Celtics have struggled on the NBA staple going all the way back to the exhibition openers in Turkey and Italy, and their lapses reared their heads again Sunday when Orlando went to the play over and over again in forcing Boston to overtime.

"I think we went over that today because in the last game we had that early lead on Orlando, and then they went to that pick-and-roll play with Jameer (Nelson) and Big Baby (Glen Davis), and they were scoring on us," Courtney Lee said. "That’s one thing (Celtics coach Doc Rivers) pulled away from the film that we have to get better on."

"(We spent) a long time on it (today)," Rivers said. "Teams take steps. To win titles, you take a lot of steps. The first step was buying in, and I think we’ve done that, and now we’ve got to get it right.

"It never stops. You’re never not (working on something). I’d love to find that team where there’s perfection, and you show up and say: ‘Guys, we have nothing to practice on.’"

As far as the pick-and-roll goes, even with all the practice the team has put into defending it throughout training camp, preseason and the sparse early season practices, they know they are far from perfect, and that’s prevented them from putting away teams in all but one of their eight victories.

"We still have a ways to go," Brandon Bass said. "Today was a day of building on the defensive end, especially on pick-and-roll coverages. I think we got better. We have to keep getting better."

(Scott Souza covers the Boston Celtics for the MetroWest Daily News and GateHouse Media. He can be reached at 781-398-8006 or ssouza@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @scott_souza.)